WE, THE FREE by Matt Eich, Sturm & Drang

9.6 × 9.8 in
168 pages
Linen bound hardcover
Sturm & Drang, 2024
First edition of 1000

The Invisible Yoke, Volume IV: We, the Free, is the final volume in photographer Matt Eich's four-part series of monographs with publisher Sturm & Drang that began in 2016 with the critically acclaimed Carry Me Ohio. It was followed by Sin & Salvation in Baptist Town (2018) and The Seven Cities (2020). The photographic series considers the weight of collective memory in the shaping of American identity.

Departing from the formula of depicting a regional microcosm, the final photobook We, the Free features images from the United States as a whole. Spanning nearly 15 years, the images were made as the artist came of age while the American superpower began to decline, and facing a time of increasing national tensions. This significant body of work is Eich's chronicle of contemporary American society entering a point of no return.